The Amulet Book 4: The Last Council
by Justin Durfee
Summary: The Stonekeeper's company has reached the legendary hidden city of Cielis, but the happenings there are soon revealed to be much more sinister than any of them expected. It's a place of hidden threats, secret plots and enemies in disguise where friends are in short supply and hope is all but gone. But some things are infinitely stronger than despair.
1. Prologue

The big ship flew slowly toward Cielis. From a distance, it looked like a giant mushroom cap topped with a miniature city attached to a blunt cone with wings. On each wing were three bulbous growths midway out and vertical stabilizers at the ends. The Guardian Angel was one of the largest airships ever constructed, commissioned at some point in the last hundred years and had clearly seen her share of action. Her hull bore the scrapes, scratches and dents only hard particles, such as large bullets, could possibly inflict.

Walking along its outer deck and inner corridors, the ship's crew went about their various tasks. Some were enlisted, responsible for keeping the Angel on course and in touch with the shipyard dock, monitoring engine status and reactor pressure. The ship's crew of twelve hundred was organic with a supplementary complement of several dozen robots to fill in for those who were unable to perform their duties. In the event that the entire crew was incapacitated, the ninety-six robots could take over all critical ship functions.

Deep in the heart of the vessel, Emily lay on her bed. Her stone was hovering in front of her face, and if one looked closely enough they would see that she was in REM sleep. She wasn't in any outward physical distress, but it would be obvious to any attentive observer that she was in the throes of what seemed to be a particularly vivid and disturbing dream.

* * *

Emily opened her dream-eyes to find herself lying down on soft grass. This wasn't the physical realm, and she knew that she could do anything she wanted here. But she also knew that her dreams had ceased being random constructions of her imagination when the stone had come into her possession, and this one was no different. The entity inside it had summoned her into the dream world to speak with her, though she could only guess at what it wanted to tell her.

She was in a forest of umbrella mushrooms. The largest specimens stood several stories tall, their caps a dozen acres across. The stone was pulling gently on her neck, attracted by an unseen force she knew could only be the entity that called it home. With no choice but to go in the direction it was pulling, she stood up and started walking. She slid down a dew-coated slope and strode through a grove of trumpet lilies before arriving at the place where the stone was trying to take her: A formation of overlapping scale fungus that had grown together and sloped upward to a small overhang where her stone's entity sat on a stump next to a stone table. Another stump was on the opposite side.

She began to ascend, and as she got closer the stone table revealed itself to be a chess board. All the pieces were set and ready. The white side was unoccupied while the entity had taken the black side. She looked at the board. Who are you playing against? she asked. She'd done this before, and knew that thinking her words in this realm was the same as talking aloud.

The entity half turned its head toward her and replied, No one yet; I'm simply preparing.

We're about to enter Cielis, she said.

Yes, I know.

You've been so quiet. I was starting to think something was wrong.

The entity's glyphed head turned to face her fully and a grin appeared. I appreciate your concern for me, Emily. You should know that upon entering Cielis, you won't hear my voice.

Why?

The city was built by early Stonekeepers to suppress their stones' voices. There's an old magic at work in those walls. Once inside, you'll be on your own.

Emily almost felt guilty as she said, I don't mean to sound rude, but it'll be nice to have my head back to myself for a while.

The shadowy form's shoulders slumped as if in a sigh. You're very talented, Emily, and have strong intuition. But your skills won't be enough to help you; you'll need my guidance in the end. A sudden gale blew past them, and Emily looked in the direction it came from to see the world beginning to break apart. We're nearing Cielis, the entity said. I'll be gone soon, so I leave you with a warning. It turned to face her head-on. Beware the Hall of Humble Kings. Pass through to the end and the game will begin.

Emily didn't understand this. What's that supposed to mean? she queried. What will I find at the end?

The shadow brought its head down to her level and said in a warning tone, It's better that you don't know.

Emily didn't like that answer. Why keep secrets from me? I'm young, but that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing.

The entity shook its head. It's safer to leave unknown what will become known when the time is right. Wind blasted past, making Emily's hair and cape billow wildly. You're not ready to know it yet, but you will be soon. And when you begin to realize the true weight of your actions, you'll awaken to be the person this world needs you to be. The entity faded, wishing her good luck before it disappeared.

* * *

Emily opened her eyes to bright light, closed them against the blinding assault, then cracked them open again. In accordance with waking up, she had next to no memory of where she was or what she was supposed to be doing, and she rolled onto her back with a sleepy groan. She drew a deep breath to supply her body with oxygen, then heard a voice. "Emily," it said. "Everyone's ready to go now."

She looked toward the source and saw a silhouette. "Who's there?" she asked groggily.

The silhouette stepped closer, bringing itself into greater focus and detail. "Max." He had a friendly smile on his face. "You took a nap, and I think you were having a nightmare."

Emily sat up and cupped her face in her hands. "I have a headache," she groaned.

Max laid a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe seeing Cielis will help make it go away. Come on." He withdrew to the door and waited patiently for her to follow. When she dragged herself out of bed, he continued, "We'll be taking the dropships into the city. Your family and friends are already boarding." His voice took on a slightly regretful tone. "Their ship is full, so you'll be riding with me." They stepped into the hangar.

The space, while not enormous, was certainly large. Mechanical racks ran the breadth of the cavernous area just below the ceiling, on which were a magnetic claw and a crane hook. A tiny airship that looked like a miniature version of the Luna Moth hung from the ceiling on thick cables. Just inside the door were the universal red-and-white warning stripes, and all throughout the hangar were robots and people preparing the space for launch. One of the robots brought to mind the image of a walking water heater, and Emily almost laughed. Two aircraft sat on launch rails set into the floor that sloped toward the wide door, over which was the traffic control center for the hangar. Both were taxicab yellow with twin-boom tails and sported two lift fans and one jet engine in their top-mounted crescent wings.

* * *

Navin climbed into the back of one of the dropships, the boarding officer telling him in flight-attendant fashion to watch his step, and took the seat next to his mom. Despite having been given the royal treatment, he felt like anything but a king and being confined to quarters last night hadn't helped his opinion of them. In short, he felt more like a prisoner than a person of respect. "I don't trust these guys, Mom," he said bluntly after he'd been buckled in. "And I still don't see why they've gone and made Trellis and Luger prisoners."

Karen looked at him soberly. "I don't like it any more than you do, Navin, but I'm sure they have their reasons. They know more than we do, after all."

"Your mom's right, kid," Enzo agreed gruffly. "You don't know squat."

Navin became a little angry at this. "But Trellis and Luger are our friends! If they'd just try and understand that—"

"They won't," the cat interrupted. "You have to remember that we've been at war with their kind for the better part of a century, and most folks are gonna take every opportunity they can get to strike at one of them. If there's one thing I've learned in my life it's that you can never trust an elf. Especially if that elf is their king's son."

Trellis allowed himself to be shepherded toward a transport in another hangar. His posture was a bit hunched from the heavy collar around his neck. His climbed in silently and sat next to Luger, who had an identical collar around his neck.

Emily and Max went down to the launch deck, where one of the ship's officers met them by their craft. "The others are ready for transport, sir," he reported with a salute.

"Thank you, Len," Max said. "Tell Duncan that we're ready, too."

"Yes sir, right away." Len saluted again and dashed off to carry out his task.

Emily turned to Max. "These men treat you like you're their leader," she observed. "Why?"

"My father was captain of the city guard," Max explained, "and I took his place when he passed away. So I'm the captain until the Council selects a replacement. I have to admit that police work never really suited me." He stepped toward the open door of their dropship. "My real ambition is to be on the Council, and it should be yours, as well."

"Why?" Emily asked. She could understand why he might want to be on the Council, but she'd never asked to be a Stonekeeper or brought into this whole mess. Her status as a Stonekeeper had been thrust upon her. She'd help this world's people however she could, but to have a spot on some all-powerful council whose members were made out as gods by those they served seemed like a lot of responsibility. Much more than she felt that she was ready for.

Max looked back at her. "For the chance to make a difference, of course. And the Council will determine who among us deserves to have it."

That didn't sound particularly attractive to her. "And how will they decide?" she asked cautiously.

"Through a series of tests," Max said cryptically. "To pass, all we'll need to do is survive."

That alarmed Emily, and her eyes widened. They had to survive training? Was the preparation for council membership that dangerous? Would it be practical, or even sane, to accept what was obviously considered the highest honor by this world's population if it might kill her? She couldn't imagine why, but the dropship powered up and shot out of the hangar before she could think too much about it.

* * *

The centrifugal force of the dropship's motion had its passengers pressed into their seat backs. Navin looked over at his mom. "Are you okay, Mom?" He had to shout to make himself heard over the powerful jet engine above their heads and the air roaring past.

Karen had her eyes shut tight and was gripping her chair hard enough to turn her knuckles white. "Ask me when we get there!"

The vertical descent lasted less than a minute, but felt like forever to those who were unaccustomed to such travel. Navin heard the engine's deafening roar tone down to a shrill howl that reminded him of the TIE fighters from the Star Wars movies, then felt the aircraft level out. They broke through the clouds and Navin gaped at the view before him. He shook his mom's shoulder and said, "Look!"

Karen slowly opened her eyes, and gasped the instant she comprehended the view that met them. "My goodness!" she exclaimed. The city before them was made up of several tiers, with an enormous castle-like structure in the center. "It's beautiful!"

The little aircraft flew down into the city. Emily looked out her window, watching enormous buildings flash past. Many of them were strangely familiar, incorporating both Egyptian and Roman design elements into the same structure. She was awed, intimidated and more than a little confused. Looking down to the streets far below she'd expected to see throngs of people milling about, but the alleys and avenues were empty. That didn't make sense; a city as big as this should have its streets packed with vendors, entertainers, children at play and people traveling to and from work. The sight was abnormal and more than a little eerie.

Two of the four aircraft peeled off and entered a hangar that was several times larger than the one aboard the Guardian Angel. Emily heard the jet engine on her craft power down, then saw the lift fan in the base of the wing on her side spin up until it was a six-bladed blur and looked out the window to see a director waving signal batons. She saw the world coming up to meet them as the aircraft slowly eased downward until she felt the thump of touchdown. She and her family followed Max, escorted by two city guards.

Leon stepped out of his transport and made to follow them, but was stopped by a guard. "No admittance beyond this point," the man said in a rehearsed tone.

"Excuse me?" Leon was surprised. Didn't the guy recognize him? "But I'm with them," he said, pointing to the little group.

"Only Stonekeepers and their families are allowed access to the academy."

Leon couldn't understand this. Surely the Council had told the city guards of him! They must know who he was. "I was ordered by the Guardian Council to deliver the Stonekeeper myself," he told the guard.

"Do you have the appropriate paperwork?" the man asked.

Leon sputtered. "Paperwork!?"

"Hey, Leon—" Enzo said, trying to interrupt the verbal slugging match before it became physical.

Leon ignored him and gave the guard a withering glare. "Let me talk to your superior!"

Enzo placed a hand on the fox's shoulder and said softly, "Leon, just let it go." Leon looked at him incredulously.

The guard nodded. "You'd do well to listen to your friend," he told Leon.

The fox turned back to the guard. "So what are we supposed to do, then?" he demanded. "What happens to us?"

"You're relieved of your duties," the man said. "Just enjoy your time in Cielis; I suggest you start by taking a walk."

"You know what, that sounds like a great idea. Come on, Leon."

The fox let himself be led away from the guard, but shot him a glare that promised he would find out what was going on. "There's something wrong with this picture, Enzo," he told the cat gruffly. "Something's not right."

"Hey," Enzo answered shortly. "I've been looking for this place for ten years, and neither you nor those yahoos are going to ruin my time here. Now show us where to find some decent food."

* * *

Meanwhile, one of the little yellow aircraft was flying over a structure in the seedier part of town. It was large with high walls and crenellations on the edges of its outer wall and the tops of its towers. It was certainly a castle, but seemed to have switched rolls at some point in the far distant past. Now in place of arrow slits, barred windows occupied the openings in the walls. Whatever this place had been, it was no longer a place of government and garrison.

Trellis turned to Duncan, who was flying the craft. "I notice we're no longer following the others," he observed, making his displeasure known by injecting a suspicious growl into his tone. "Where are you taking us?"

Duncan turned his head and glared at the elf prince from the corner of his eye. "Asking the wrong questions can get you into trouble around here," he said.

Trellis returned the glare tenfold. "So can unanswered questions."

Duncan laughed. "You think you're a threat, boy? With that collar around your neck? You're more delusional than I thought." He turned back to give his attention to his surroundings again. "I suggest you sit tight and keep your mouth shut. You can save yourself and the old man a lot of pain if you just do what you're told."

Trellis bared his teeth in a feral snarl of rage, but he'd be helping no one if he said something that put either or both of them out of their captors' misery. And this castle looked to be a very unfriendly place indeed. It was dull and lifeless and projected the sort of air that made one cringe at the thought of what might be happening inside. Occupants had only barred, glassless windows to shield them from the elements, and pipes so old that they looked like they might burst any second belched clouds of smoke and spewed geysers of scalding steam crisscrossed the space between the outer wall and two of the main structures within its boundaries. He wondered why the place had been left to decay if it was made some use of.

He found out when they landed and he and Luger were all but yanked out of the little airplane and shoved toward a musclebound man standing in the main doorway. His face was broad with a strong jaw, a big nose, black eyes and outward-oriented ears that made him look like some kind of demonic ape. He had a wire-brush mustache under his nose, sunshade brows over his eyes and thinning hair; the top of his head was already bare with thin wisps that trailed back to join a greasy black cascade that flowed behind his ears before falling around his neck and over his shoulders. A scar from an old wound that had been stitched in order to heal marred the left side of his forehead, lending him a rather imposing quality.

But Trellis was far too upset and busy trying to formulate a plan of escape to be intimidated by this ugly, monkey-faced man.

"Welcome to Yarboro Prison," the man greeted in a voice that lacked any trace of friendliness. "I'm Kajer, the warden of this place." He looked at Trellis and drew his lips back in a grin of malicious glee, revealing teeth that were square and strong but stained yellow with years of neglect, and cracked his knuckles eagerly. "A little birdie told me that you are the son of the devil himself," he said, shoving his nose into Trellis' face. "When I heard that you were the Elf King's son, I asked to be your personal escort. You should know that my family was one of the hundreds killed by your kind back in the war, and I'm not the type to forget things easily."

Trellis returned the man's snarl and said, "Explain to me why the innocent suffer for crimes they didn't commit."

Kajer's face contorted into a mask of disgust. "And insolent as well. You reek of privilege and power. Well, you won't have any plush beds or servant girls waiting to pleasure you here. Step too far out of line and you won't ever leave here except to be returned to your father in a heap." He turned on his heel and started to walk into the prison, motioning for Duncan to bring them along, and the gray-haired man behind the elves shoved them roughly forward. They silently submitted to his prodding and followed Kajer inside.

"As you can see," Kajer said, indicating the cells of miserably moaning prisoners, "we have the finest jailhouse facilities in the skies. This is Cell Block Four, an area reserved for our foreign guests."

"Funny. I don't feel like a guest," Trellis grumbled, trying to get on Kajer's nerves and make him angry. He knew better than most that angry people made mistakes, especially angry people who were used to being in complete control of their environment. "Any chance we might be able to get bed and breakfast here? Or even some scantily-dressed dancers?"

Kajer growled. "Keep up that attitude and you're likely to not be fed for a week." He cleared his throat and continued his tour guide explanation. "Our facilities are designed to prevent both break-ins and breakouts. Many have tried and all have failed." He opened a cell and made an 'after you' gesture. "The Council plans to put you two on trial for war crimes. You'll be staying in here until you're summoned." Trellis and Luger silently stepped inside, and the heavy metal frame made a loud clang as it slammed shut. "I don't want any trouble, you hear? If I find any excuse to take disciplinary action, trust me, I'll take it." He locked the door and stalked off with Duncan close behind him.

Trellis watched him until he was gone. The haughty smugness of the way Kajer carried himself reminded him a little too much of his father and it sickened him. Only when he and Luger were alone, and he was sure no guards were nearby, did he attempt to free himself of the restraining collar around his neck. "If I can just get this collar off, I can use my stone to break us out." He knew that nothing was perfect, and the state of this place suggested it was well past its prime.

After a few minutes of listening to him struggle, Luger moaned, "It's no use. All we can do now is wait for the Elf King to find and kill us here."

"We may not have long to wait."

The old man's head perked up in alarm. "What do you mean?"

"Can't you smell it? This place is already compromised." Trellis walked over to the small window at the back of their cell and looked out over the rooftops to the enormous structure of the academy at the center of the city. "Everyone here is stricken with fear. They're crippled by it. This city will fall even before the king arrives."


	2. Chapter 1

Emily, Navin and Karen stood with Max in the elevator as it rose up the wall toward the academy, looking out at the buildings now so far below that they looked like dollhouses. Max stood in the center of the car, smiling to himself as he watched the others look out at the urban panorama stretching before them in every direction. "This is quite a view!" Karen remarked.

"The best in the city, ma'am," Max said. "Your daughter is being given the opportunity of a lifetime, Mrs. Hayes, one that very few Stonekeepers are ever given."

Karen looked at him. "Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is this 'chance' that Emily's being given?"

"If she is, in fact, who the Council has been looking for, then she just might help us save the world." He gave Emily a look she couldn't interpret before the elevator stopped and the door opened. Max led them out into a spacious room with a high arched ceiling and made an encompassing motion with his arms. "This is the Grand Hall of the Academy, where the most powerful Stonekeepers in history held court. And now we'll have the opportunity to join their ranks."

Emily only half-listened to him as she walked up to a large set of double doors directly across from the elevator. The frame was made of white marble, and at the top was an immaculate carving depicting something she didn't recognize fully, but it looked like the face of a Stonekeeper without features. The doors themselves looked to be made of black metal with brass handles and covered in images resembling ivy branches that twisted into Celtic knots. "Max," she said, "is this the Guardian Council's chamber?"

"Yes."

"How do I get inside? I need to talk with them."

Max shook his head. "I'm sorry, Emily. That's not how things are done here."

Emily stomped her foot in urgent frustration. "We don't have time for this, Max!"

"You can't simply bother them unannounced."

"Unannounced!?" Emily spluttered. "I'm all I've been hearing about ever since we came to this infernal place! Besides that, we need to tell them about the Elf King before it's too late!"

To her surprise, Max chuckled. "And you don't think they know already? The Guardian Council knows all."

"Is that a fact? Do they know of the homeless farmers and starving people who are made to suffer daily for the elves' amusement? Are they aware of those who are imprisoned and tortured just because they're victims of a curse that turns them into the likenesses of animals? When was the last time their feet were physically on the ground anyway?"

"Insulting the Council will get you nowhere," he warned her.

"Oh, they'll get more than insults if they don't talk to me yesterday!"

"You'll have your audience with them," Max assured her, "but you must be patient." He turned and started to walk away. "Now follow me. I'll show you to your living quarters."

* * *

True to his word, a few minutes later saw them standing inside a lavish living area. "Oh my!" Karen was amazed. This was far beyond anything she'd been expecting. "There must be some mistake! This place is just so…fancy."

Max chuckled. "I assure you, Mrs. Hayes, this is no mistake. Your daughter is held in very high esteem here in Cielis."

"If that's the case," Navin interjected, "then why don't they just see her? Apart from liberating the world, what makes them so busy that they can't see her on something as urgent as this?"

"Liberating the world," Max said simply. "You have no idea at all what a responsibility that is."

"I have some idea," Navin scoffed. "And it strikes me as strange, if not suspicious, that they wouldn't want every bit of information they could get their hands on. Right now, it seems to me that the Elf King knows more about you than you know about him."

"That's preposterous! Stonekeepers know everything."

"Isn't the Elf King one? From what I've heard, he can talk to anyone directly without ever leaving his palace. I don't know what it's called here, but where we come from it's known as telecommunication—the ability to both see and hear the one you're talking to over great distances. Isn't it possible the guy slipped a mole into this place? He could be getting blueprints on your defenses and location right now!"

"Don't be stupid. The Council has kept this city safe since my grandfather was my age."

"Ample time for the bad guys to figure out a way to locate it, don't you think? They could have bribed or tortured one of your patrols into giving them your whereabouts!"

"Now that taking credibility too far!"

"Does it really stretch your imagination that much?"

"Enough!" Karen stepped between them before their verbal battle became physical. "Navin, I understand your suspicions, but we don't have the luxury of being choosy right now. We'll just have to trust that these people know what they're doing and leave the rest to them."

"Wise advice," Max agreed, and looked at Navin, who gave him a suspicious look right back.

Navin went out to join his sister on the balcony just outside. "I don't like this place, Em," he told her.

"So I gathered from your argument." She sighed. "I don't like it either, Navin, but what choice do we have? Where else can we go? These people are supposed to be the only ones who can help us."

"I always thought we were on our own," Navin said.

"You may not believe me," Max said from the door, "but I can understand your hesitation. And I want to assure you that everything we've done has been for your benefit." Emily and Navin turned to face him. "Your friends were merely taken aside to let you focus. They're quite safe and being treated as guests."

"If that's true," Navin challenged, "then tell us why you collared Trellis and had him and Luger taken somewhere else. For that matter, why haven't we heard from the captain and Leon? Something fishy's going on here, I can smell it."

Max sighed and shook his head. "You don't trust me. I understand that, too. I've been secretive of some things and I assure you—"

"I don't want assurances," Navin snapped. "I want to see that our friends are okay."

"I'd let you if I could, but—"

"If you could? Who or what is stopping you?"

Rather than give Navin an answer, Max continued, "Tomorrow will be your first day in the academy. The Council is very excited to see how you perform in the tests."

Emily shook her head. "I didn't come here to join them, Max; I came here to ask them for help."

Max looked a bit miffed. "You need to start taking this opportunity more seriously, Emily. These tests will determine who among us are the strongest Stone-keepers. And only the strongest earn the right to lead our army against the Elf King. It's your duty to help us however you can." He turned and headed toward the door. "Now make sure you get plenty of rest tonight. You're going to need it."

He bade Karen goodbye and wished her a good evening as he left. "Good night, Max," she said, and he closed the door. After a rather long moment of awkward silence, she looked at Emily. "He seems nice."

"On the outside," Navin said gruffly. "We have to get out of here and find the others."

Emily took hold of the doorhandle and pulled, but the door didn't open. "It's locked."

"Can't you just blast through it with your necklace?" Navin asked.

She shook her head. "No. Ever since we entered the academy grounds, the stone's power has felt so weak. Something here is affecting it, but I don't know what or why."

"At least we're being treated nicely," Karen said, attempting to lift the apprehension.

It didn't work. "Mom, I'm getting a bad tingly feeling about this place. Can't you feel the vibes? We should go."

"Navin's right, Mom," Emily agreed. "Something's not right here."

But Karen wasn't one to be easily swayed. "You should at least try to apply yourself here and not be so quick to judge. Defeating this Elf King fellow is the only way we're going to get home, right? These people seem like they could be very powerful allies and you can certainly use their help."

Emily gave her a hard look. "Mom, you remember that old saying, 'Ignorance is bliss'? Well, in this case, I think ignorance means death. Can't you see that there's something wrong with this place?"

"Don't look at me that way," Karen said. "I'm not blind, Emily. As you grow up, you're going to find that almost everywhere you go has 'something wrong' with it. That's just the way life is. You just have to be willing to follow their system and do what you can to make things right. So long as you do that, things should work themselves out." Her expression softened and she smiled. "And you might even help those around you on the way."

Emily sighed, sounding as defeated as she felt. "Considering our situation, I don't think I have much of a choice, Mom."

Karen smiled at her. "Come here, sweetheart." She held out an arm to her, then one to her son. "We'll be fine," she told them. "So long as we stay together."

* * *

Enzo, Rico and Leon walked down the street. It had been two hours since they'd entered the city and for some strange reason had encountered next to no citizens. The few they had encountered had either been sitting just outside doors on benches or hanging out of windows and quickly disappeared when they approached. "Well, this is disappointing," Enzo said, looking around. "This place is like a ghost town. Was it always like this, Chief?"

Leon shook his head. "No. It's strangely quiet now. This used to be one of the busiest streets."

They walked on for a minute longer before Enzo said, "Let's find something to eat. I'm famished." None of them knew that they were being followed. They came up to a small establishment that was barely more lively than the street. "This place looks open," Enzo observed. They went inside, where the only two customers sat at a table in the corner. "A bit run-down, but it'll have to do." The customers, both men and unaffected by the curse that plagued the land below, looked at them with expression they couldn't name. "A friendly crowd."

They approached the shopkeeper, who stood behind the front desk. "We're closed," he said bluntly.

The three newcomers looked at each other in confusion, then back at him. "But your sign says you're open," Enzo said.

"Well, I said we're closed," the shopkeeper persisted.

They stared at him. "All we want is some food and we're gone," Leon said.

"Then find it somewhere else. We're closed here."

"Oh, I get it." Enzo grabbed the shopkeeper by his collar and growled, "You mean this place is close to us, right!?"

"Enzo!" Leon grabbed the cat and started pulling him away before he could start throwing punches.

"I didn't want your rotten food, anyway!" Enzo shouted, shaking his fist. "It smells horrible in here! We'd probably get sick!"

Leon pulled him outside, where Enzo slammed the door shut. "The food actually smelled pretty good," Rico said mournfully.

Enzo sighed and put his hands on his rumbling stomach. "I can't believe I was naive enough to believe life could be better here."

"It's not you, Enzo," Leon told him, "it's this place. Something's not right here; it's not like these people to behave this way."

Enzo sighed again. "Get over it, Redbeard. So long as we look different, things aren't going to change."

"Sir?" a young voice called from behind them. "Excuse me, sir?" They turned to see a young girl. She was dressed in filthy clothes with ragged cuffs and had dirty blonde hair. "You're not a ghost," she said almost wonderingly.

Enzo guffawed at the absurdity of it. "A ghost! Is this a joke?"

The girl smiled slightly. "You're looking for a place to eat," she told them. "Please, come with me. And your friends, too." She turned and started to go, Leon started to follow her.

"Where you going, Chief?" Enzo asked.

"Something's wrong with this place," the fox told him. "This girl may be able to give us some answers."

"And maybe some food?" Rico asked hopefully. Enzo humphed, knowing he was outnumbered by popular vote.

"This way," the girl called. "In here!" She disappeared through a door.

Leon, who was only a few yards behind, shouted, "Wait! I need to talk to you!" She'd left the door cracked, and he peeked inside. "Hello?" Nothing. The others caught up with him and they went inside. "Hello?" he called again, still with no response.

"Another empty hole-in-the-wall," Enzo groused. "Looks like business is slow in this city."

Suddenly a door at the far end of the room opened and the girl reappeared, dragging in a woman with her by the wrists. "See, Mom? I brought you some customers!" She sounded rather proud of this.

The three stared at her for a moment—Enzo with his scowl, Leon with his passive frown, while Rico grinned nervously. "Hello, ma'am," Leon greeted respectfully.

The woman nodded slightly. "Hello." She didn't look particularly happy or excited about her new customers. If anything, she looked worried. But what about?

Before they could begin to wonder, the girl said, "Just take a seat anywhere. My mom makes the best yukmo pies!"

"Yes…" The woman put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" They went behind the door.

"Mom," the girl pleaded, "it's okay. They're safe."

"We're not welcome here, either," Enzo said quietly.

"I'm so hungry I could eat two whole yukmos," Rico whined.

Just before the door swung closed, it creaked open again. This time, a man came out with the girl. "What did I tell you about bringing in strangers?" he admonished.

"But Dad," the girl pleaded, "they're not like the others. You can tell."

"If we could just bother you for a bit of food," Enzo told him, "we'll be out of here before you know it."

"Out of here is exactly where you need to be, for your own safety," the man said. "This town is cursed. If you stay here, they'll find and kill you like the others."

"What?" Leon asked, completely lost. "Who will kill us? The Elf King?"

The man shook his head. "No. The Guardian Council." There was a concerted gasp of astonishment from the three newcomers. "I'm sorry, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Norman, and this is my wife, Arell, and our daughter, Alyson."

"Good to meet you, sir." The fox nodded and shook the man's hand. "But the Council?" Leon couldn't believe this. "They're the ones who sent me on this mission."

"How long ago?" Norman asked. "The Council's no longer what it was."

The front door clicked. "The door is locked," Arell said.

"But Dad, the Council isn't real," Aly said. "They're ghosts, just like the ones that haunt the city."

"Whoa, hold up," Enzo interrupted. "Not real? And what are these ghosts you keep going on about?"

The girl turned to him. "A few years ago, I saw some people I recognized, but they acted like complete strangers." She shivered. "They took over the city in a matter of days."

"And what makes you believe they're ghosts?" Leon asked.

"Like I said, I recognized them. But these people, they're supposed to be dead."

"Aly, that's enough," Norman said. "Remember what we talked about?"

"I can't just keep the truth bottled up, Dad," Aly said. "My parents are scared because they know we're always being watched. But I don't care."

"Alyson!"

"You're not ghosts, and you're not from here. So you must be here to help us, right?"

Leon hesitated, the hope in her voice making his words lodge in his throat as he tried to answer. "I—"

"Look, kid," Enzo said. "The truth is that we came here looking for help, not the other way around. I'm sorry."

Suddenly, someone rapped hard several times on the front door. "It's the guard," Norman said.

"Is there someplace for us to hide?" Leon asked.

The man sighed. "No."

"Dad! We have to help them!"

"There's no use hiding them here. The guard would find them quickly." Then a thought struck him. "They can escape through the kitchen." He knelt down and looked his daughter straight in the eye. "Now look. The guard is going to try and take us, too. So I want you to go with your friends."

"What about you and Mom?" Alyson asked.

"We'll be fine," he assured her, taking her into his arms. "We'll stay here and distract them." He looked at Leon pleadingly. "Please take care of Aly. She's everything to us." He took them all in. "Aly's instincts have rarely been wrong. So I hope she's right and you manage to help us all."

"I'll protect her however I can. You have my word. As for helping this place, I'll see what I can do."

"Let's go!" Aly said, leading them into the kitchen and pointing at the tiny window. "This way. Hurry!"

Leon jumped out and landed on the alley ten feet below with all the lightness of a cat. "I'm right behind you, Redbeard," Enzo said. He started to pull himself out, but his rotund frame lodged in the narrow space. Rico got under him and began to lift, grunting with effort as he tried to push his brother's girth out. In the end, it took both him and Aly to get him through the window. He popped loose and fell onto Leon with his full weight, and he heard the breath leave the fox's lungs in a great whoosh. "Nice catch, Chief," he said. "You okay?"

"Aside from a possible concussion and breathlessness," Leon wheezed, "I'll be fine."

Behind them, they heard Rico and Aly grunt as they hit the paved stone. "We'll be safer taking the backstreets," Aly said. The three took off, and after a worried glance back at her home, she followed them.

* * *

Norman and Arell stood staring at the door that shook and bowed with every rock-hard bang. This had only happened a few times since the Council had disappeared and the city had become a ghostly quiet place. The guard had always come to take someone away on the grounds that they had done something against the Council, and though everyone knew better than to believe such claims, nobody was about to say anything against them for fear that they would be hauled off next.

Normal, fearful sweat rolling down his brow in marbles, approached the door and slid the small viewport back. He saw an elderly man with gray hair cut flat on top and a well-kept gray beard. The man's icy-blue eyes stared back at him from under a frowning brow and Norman felt a chill run up his spine. "Cole?" In answer, the man he thought was Cole leaned back and kicked the door in before he could react. He landed on his back with a grunt and felt pain in his left eye. "I knew Cole Duncan for most of my life," he said, astonishment and anger equally evident in his tone. "He helped my mother raise me after my father died. He was a good friend and died a proud soldier." He glared back at the thing that looked like his friend. "I don't know who or what you are, but you're not Officer Cole Duncan."

"Silence," the man who looked like Cole commanded. "You're under arrest for conspiring against the Council." He motioned with his arm and two officers of the City Guard came forward and hefted Norman and Arell to their feet.

"Let us go!" Arell demanded. "You know as well as we do that this city is nothing like it was!"

Behind them, Duncan's eyes glowed white. "They know, sir," he said.

"Buy me more time, Duncan," a voice answered. "I need more time."

* * *

Leon, Enzo and Rico ran through the city, following Aly wherever she went. She led them through a labyrinth of twisting alleys and streets that would have tied them in a dozen knots after the first few turns, getting them through every intersection and around every corner with a confidence they could only admire. Leon marveled at her knowledge of the city's layout since things had gone downhill, and made a mental note to mention her to the Alledian Resistance fighters down on the ground. Her experience in urban navigation would be an invaluable asset to their command infrastructure.

But for now… "Aly, before we go any farther, I need you to show us the way to the prison."

She looked back at him like he'd completely lost his mind. "Are you nuts? The prison's what you're trying to avoid! Why do you want to go there?"

"Because," Leon told her, "we're going to need some help from our friends."


	3. Chapter 2

Miskit and Cogsley looked out across the stone spires that stood all around them from the nest they were in, trying to devise a plan for escape. The spires had been separated from the mainland long ago, pounded by the surf that still crashed against their bases. The next that the wyvern had deposited them in was large—several yards across and at least four feet deep—with six immense eggs that were grouped on one side. But that hadn't been the worst for them. If robots had ears, steam would be blowing out of theirs.

"This is all your fault, Cogsley!" Miskit shouted, jabbing a finger at him.

"My fault?" Cogsley retorted. "You're the one who got caught by the wyvern! I was just an unwitting passenger!"

"But it was your idea to tie us together! You should have tied yourself to the ship!"

"Yeah, yeah. Water under the bridge, Miskit. If you thought that, you should have said something." Miskit lost her temper. She stomped toward Cogsley and shoved him back when she reached him. He smashed into one of the eggs with a calcitic crunch. He looked at the damage. A hole had been made where he impacted the shell. "Oh, that's just lovely. Now look at what you've done!" But the hole got bigger, a tiny chirping noise was heard from within, and an infant wyvern poked its head out a moment later. "Uh-oh," Cogsley said. "He's looking at me funny. What does he want?"

"He must think you're his mother," Miskit observed.

"That's a bad idea, kid," Cogsley told the tiny winged lizard, but it only chirped at him. "You don't want me to be your mother. Trust me." It chirped again and launched itself into his arms, purring. The sudden weight almost toppled him backward. "Miskit, do something!"

"What do you want me to do?" She chuckled. "He seems harmless."

"It's his real mother I'm worried about!"

The tiny reptile nuzzled Cogsley's shoulder, purring like a chuckabur, and Miskit giggled at the sight. The thing was so cute, and the fact that it thought grumpy old Cogsley was its mother only made it funnier. But her mirth died when she turned her head and saw a glint. "Hey look!" She pointed, and Cogsley followed her finger. "I think it's an airship!" She began jumping up and down, waving her arms wildly and screaming to attract attention.

But the excitement of the moment was lost on Cogsley as he recognized the vessel's shape. "Miskit! Get down and stay low!"

She looked back at him. "Are you crazy!? Do you want to stay here forever!?"

"It's a Hemlock ship! They're pirates!" He set the thing down and looked into its eyes. "Listen to me, kid. I know you've only just hatched, but you're going to have to fly. If you don't, these people are going to eat you. Understand?" The baby wyvern looked at him blankly, eyes wide and his mouth angled into a sort of grin. "You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?"

"Here they come, Cogsley!" Miskit said, then turned to look at him. She gasped. "What are you doing!?"

"This is for his own good!" Cogsley said. "You'll thank me for this someday," he told the little dragon, then tossed it over the edge. It fell for a few seconds without reaction, and Cogsley shouted, "Flap your wings and fly, kid!" The little dragon must have heard him, because it spread its wings and leveled its flight just inches above the water, leaving a wild spray in its wake. "He did it!"

"Cogsley!" Miskit yelled, but neither of them had a chance to say anything more before two salvage crane claws latched onto them and started lifting them up toward the ship.

"Ha! Spoiled your lunch, barbarians!" Cogsley said, shaking his fist at the vessel.

"I don't think they were after the wyvern, Cogsley," Miskit said worriedly.

The claws carried them up and then dropped them onto the ship's deck, where an old man sat at the controls. He looked down at Cogsley through a magnifying lens over his right eye. "Hm. Very interesting," he said. "You're an older model."

"Speak for yourself, old timer," Cogsley snorted indignantly. "You're not exactly a spring chicken, you know."

"Touché." The old man stood, took up a cane and hobbled toward the helm. "Well, you two look harmless enough. Make yourselves comfortable and hold onto something."

"Where are we going?" Miskit asked.

The old man turned to her with a look she couldn't read and said simply, "Home."

Miskit rolled her eyes at the vagueness of the answer but decided not to pursue it, then turned to look over the ship's port stern. "Hey Cogsley, look. Your new buddy decided to follow us."

"What are you doing, kid!?" Cogsley hollered. "Go back!" The infant wyvern only chirped at him in response and continued to follow the rickety aircraft.

They flew into a cave beaten into the side of a cliff by the ceaseless pounding of the sea. It was big enough to easily fit the old airship through, and on the other side was a protected grotto surrounded on all sides by high stone cliffs. In the center was an island, and built around a tree in the center of the island was a house built of wood with a thatched roof. The ship came to land on the water, its momentum and prop wash sending up a spray of foamy white mist until it came to a stop at the beach, where an olive-green robot was waiting.

"Welcome back home, sir," it called.

"Cecil," the old man called back. "We have a couple of new recruits. Load up their memories with a cleaning program."

The robot nodded its affirmation. "Yes, sir."

"Hey!" Cogsley snapped. "Nobody's loading anything into our brains!"

"Don't worry, my friend," the old man assured as he tossed his staff overboard onto the sand and descended the rope ladder. "It's a good program. It'll let you know what needs to get done around here." His feet touched ground and he picked up his staff. "And it was written by your master, Silas."

Cogsley and Miskit were caught off guard. "You knew Silas?" Miskit asked.

The old man ignored her question. "Cecil, refuel the ship and show our new friends around the house."

"Yes, sir."

Miskit decided to skip the ladder completely and leapt over the railing. Cogsley descended the ladder carefully; for all his machismo, he hated being on anything that wasn't steady. He was halfway down when he heard a chirping noise that made him flinch. He slowly turned his head and saw the baby wyvern looking up at him with cheerful puppy eyes. "Uh-oh." He hit the sand and picked up a piece of driftwood. "Look, kid, I know it's going to be difficult to say goodbye, so I'm going to give you something to remember me by." He held it out to the infant reptile. "Here. Take this stick." The creature sniffed it, then took it in its mouth. Cogsley stood and walked toward the house, waving at the hatchling. "It's been fun, kid. Good luck with your life."

He caught up with Miskit and Cecil. "This way, please," said the olive robot.

The house was impressive, all things considered. In fact, if one took into account that this island was in the middle of nowhere and seemed to have few if any resources of its own, the house was nothing short of an ingenious marvel of resourceful engineering. It was more or less a simple structure suspended some twenty feet above the sand on stout stilts that lacked proper walls and had a heavy roof of thatched straw and woven kelp.

They ascended the stairway to the main floor. Miskit let her hand slide along the rail. It was smooth and cool—either expertly crafted or worn by time. She decided on the latter. On the main floor was an offshoot of the tree's trunk, likely being utilized by their host to help support the structure. Arranged around the trunk was a three-seat couch with footstools, and several pictures framed a small shelf cut into the trunk itself. The top and middle held mostly books and a few odds and ends, while the lowest held candles. It struck her as obsessive that everything was so well maintained and kept up for a structure this old. If it was as old as she was guessing.

There was a proper wooden ladder behind the trunk that led to the next level. Miskit climbed it, then another flight of stairs, followed closely by Cogsley and Cecil. Upon cresting the stairway, they saw the old man reaching for one of a collection of glass containers on a low shelf. "I apologize for my lack of courtesy, my friends. Please make yourselves at home." He opened the container he'd taken off the shelf. "Would you care for some tea?"

"Tea?" Cogsley was incredulous. "We don't have time for tea!"

"There is always time for tea," said the old man.

"You don't understand," interjected Miskit. "We're on an important mission and our friends need our help."

"Then you should sit down and reflect on what you're going to do," the old man said philosophically.

Cogsley huffed in irritation. "Let's go, Miskit. We're wasting time with this hermit."

"But Cogsley, we're on an island," Miskit pointed out. "Besides, where would we go?"

"Sit down," said the old man, a bit more forcefully.

"I don't drink tea," Cogsley said irritably, then turned to leave.

He didn't get far though. The next thing he knew, he was picked up and then deposited on a couch. "I told you to sit down," the old man repeated.

Miskit gasped. "You're a Stonekeeper!" The old man levitated the kettle and some cups onto the coffee table in front of the couch, but Cogsley just humphed and stubbornly crossed his arms. "You mentioned Silas," Miskit went on. "How did you know him?"

The old man turned toward her and smiled under his beard. "We served together on the Guardian Council," he told her. "He left me this." He held up a rectangular shape that had an antenna on the top and a graphed red screen on the facing side, and set it on the table. "It's a transceiver he designed himself to locate and track his creations. This is how I found Cecil. For years, it sat silent in my collection of keepsakes until it began to pick up another signal. That's how I found you. I never got to ask why he gave me this, and it was long after our time on the Council that I learned what it was for."

The company was silent for a moment as Miskit and Cogsley digested this information. Then Miskit said, "Silas said he was exiled from Cielis for telling the truth."

"Interesting."

"Why were you booted out?" asked Cogsley.

"I wasn't booted out. I left." The old man poured himself some tea and looked at his guests. "You must understand that Silas was an odd man. He spoke his mind freely, and it upset the other Council members. He was eventually voted off the Council."

"But what would prompt them to exile him?" Miskit asked.

"He wanted to destroy the Motherstone."

Miskit and Cogsley looked blank. "The Motherstone?" asked Miskit.

"It's where all of these come from." He held up his stone. "Our Stonekeeper powers originate from a single source. Cut from a gem that was discovered by the early settlers of this planet.

"Realizing that the Motherstone contained tremendous energy, the settlers buried it deep beneath their first city, Cielis, the ancient capital of Windsor. The original Guardian Council was established to govern use of the Motherstone. Small bits of the powerful gem were cut and provided to the early settlers of Alledia to help them develop our world. Centuries passed, and hundreds of Stonekeepers were born. With their powers they built the foundation for the great nations of Alledia, and accelerated the development of cities across the globe.

"Of course, more than a few Stonekeepers have abused the immense power that the stones provided them, and waged war on other Stonekeepers for control of the nations. Many Stonekeepers perished in the battles, and their stones perished with them. By the time I joined the Council, only a small shard of the Motherstone remained. It was decided that cutting the final piece would only be considered if the Council needed to call on its power to help defend Cielis and the nation of Windsor. It was considered a last resort. Your master, Silas, felt that if we weren't going to use it, we should destroy it before it fell into the wrong hands. To treat it as an insurance policy, he reasoned, was a potentially fatal mistake. He criticized the Council for making decisions based on their fears, and believed that if we down this path, we would see those fears realized.

"At the time I was the youngest member of the Council, and due to my inexperience, I would make some decisions of my own that I would regret for the rest of my life. The first such decision was to vote in favor of removing Silas from the Council; shortly afterward, the elves unleashed a devastating attack on Cielis and forced the Council to hide the city in the clouds. And then I began to see what Silas saw. The Council's every move was motivated by fear; I'd just been too young and too stupid to see it before. I could no longer be a part of them. So I tendered my resignation."

When he said nothing more, Miskit asked, "And you just left?"

"Not exactly. You see, I still considered myself a member of the Council, but followed the guidelines established by the original and chose to work outside the system. For millennia, it was forbidden for a keeper's stone to be inherited by their descendants, the reason being that such power becoming a generational thing would cause families to think they deserved everything their stones' power had to offer and try to usurp power of the nations. I went against the grain of the wood I'd been cut from and passed my stone down to my son, and trained him to become a better Stonekeeper than I had ever been. He was eager to fight, so he set out to take on the Elf King."

Another drawn-out pause. "And what happened?" Miskit urged.

The old man shook his head. "That is a story for another time." He gulped down the rest of his tea and set his cup down. "Now if you'll excuse me." He stood up. "I have a sunset to catch." He began to walk away. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you like. But if you'd prefer, we can provide you with a boat."

Cogsley instantly pounced on the offer. "Great! Where are the paddles?"

Miskit looked at Cecil and asked, "What happened to his son?"

Cecil looked back at her and answered, "He was killed and the stone returned to Vigo. The old man hasn't been the same since."

* * *

That evening, Cogsley was down on the beach sliding the boat offered to them by Vigo to the water's edge. He'd been at it all afternoon, but being programmed with over a million mechanical procedures had made that task child's play. First he checked to hull for weak spots and signs of rot or places that had been patched over. Next he rigged the mast and set it upright before checking the tiller for damage and stowing the paddles. Finally, he unfurled the sail to check it for holes or tears that the wind might catch and tear the big canvass sheet in half. But the tiny ship appeared to have been kept in excellent repair, and he saw nothing that immediately threatened the vessel's seaworthiness.

He was just nosing the boat into the water when he sensed the baby wyvern closeby. He turned and saw it over his shoulder, sitting in the sand where he'd left it like an obedient dog. "You're not going to give up, are you?" The baby lizard just stared at him. "Well, if you want to join our crew, you'll have to toughen up. And you can start by wiping that goofy grin off your face." He turned when he heard Miskit walking away. "Hey, Chief! Where are you going?"

"I need to speak to Vigo," she answered.

"Well, hurry it up. We're already starting late. We need to catch what sunlight is left!"

Miskit climbed a winding stairway carved from the sheer cliff face to the top if the island, where she saw Vigo sitting on a rock and peering out at the barren horizon. She wondered briefly how he could live in such an isolated place, then reasoned it was his way of grieving his loss. She walked up quietly behind him, not wanting to disturb his moment of tranquility, but his head turned slightly to her side of him anyway. "You should know that Master Silas is dead," she said simply.

Vigo didn't turn to look at her. "Killed by the elves?"

"No. An illness."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"You should also know that he passed his power down to his great-granddaughter," Miskit continued. "Her name is Emily Hayes, and she could use your help right now. She's searching for Cielis and the Guardian Council, looking for other Stonekeepers like you. I just wanted you to know that there are still people out there who are fighting for the same things you and Silas believed in. Even if you've lost faith in them."

Vigo heaved a sigh, but gave no other indication that what she'd said had affected him. "Thank you for telling me about Silas," he said quietly. "You should leave now, before it gets dark."

Cogsley heard Miskit approaching. "Is he coming?"

Miskit shook her head. "No. Let's go." She helped Cogsley shove the boat into the water and rigged the sail.

"Well, at least we have one new ally," the cranky robot mechanic said, looking at the baby wyvern. "Although I'm pretty sure that he has no idea what he's getting himself into."

* * *

Long after the sun had gone from the sky, Cecil ascended the step to a secluded place on the cliff top, where Vigo was standing alone before two headstones. A small pot of flowers sat between them. "The ship is fueled and loaded, sir," he said with respectful softness.

"What do you think, Cecil?" Vigo asked after a moment.

"Sir?"

"What do you think about this? About the decisions I've made? About me?"

"I think this is a very nice place to retire, but it's not my place to judge your decisions. Those are your own. As for you…" The robot paused for a moment, then said carefully, "I think it's about time you got back in the game, sir."

Vigo let out a chuckle. "Of course you do." He turned and started down the stairs. "This is what I get for listening to the toys of a madman." The headstones were left behind in silence, bearing the names of Vigo's wife and son. Miriam and Daniel Light.

* * *

Out on the open ocean, Miskit and Cogsley sat in their boat, pushed along by a stout breeze that caught in the sail. The moon was rising, a huge sphere of brilliant white silver that reflected off the water in an amorphous ripple. The night sky was the clearest they'd ever seen it, filled with stars that twinkled and danced as invisible wisps of clouds and the odd heat waves distorted them. Faint milky streaks smeared the sky, breaking the monotony of prominent deep midnight blue.

Cogsley looked at the baby wyvern, as he had been for the past hour now. He was considering what to do with it and felt conflicted, something not commonly known for robots. He knew that the best thing to do for the little guy was to encourage it to find its own way in life, but it appeared to be attached to him now and didn't seem to have any idea what he was saying when he spoke to it. Truthfully, Cogsley was growing attached to the baby reptile also.

Finally, he reached a decision. "I think I'll name him Dagno," he said suddenly. "It's what Silas was going to name his next robot. Does he look like a Dagno to you?"

Miskit made urgent shushing gestures. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

The sound of an aerial motor was approaching rapidly, and soon a blinding floodlight was on them. Two pneumatic thumps and they were grabbed by familiar salvage claws. "There has to be a better way to do this," Cogsley complained.

The claws lifted them over the rails and onto the deck of Vigo's aircraft, where the old man stood at the controls. "I'm sorry about this, my friends," he said. "But I thought you could use a lift."

"So you finally decided to help us," Cogsley said dryly. "What convinced you?"

"Not what," said Vigo, "but who. I've been fighting with myself for years, and it was Cecil who finally got me to see reason. Cielis has been lost for years, and no one seems to know or even believe that it still exists."

"How do you intend to find it?" asked Miskit.

"My stone will guide us there," Vigo explained, holding up the gem in his necklace. "The path to the city is open to all members of the Guardian Council, past and present, so long as you're willing to brave the eye of the storm." He guided his tiny airship toward the center of the Golbez Cycle.


	4. Chapter 3

Emily slept on the bed provided by the academy. It was soft and comfortable, dressed in satin sheets and separated from the rest of the room by a thin white curtain. Her sleep was deep and dreamless, which she hadn't experienced almost since her great-grandfather's tone had come into her possession, and she was glad for it. She hadn't slept this well since she'd been unwittingly and unwillingly thrust into a political military mess on another world. But the past few months had conditioned her to sleep with one ear and one eye open in case of danger, which she'd learned often came when she least expected it.

This was one of those times.

Emily jolted awake as her sixth sense alerted her to a presence other than her own and those of her mother and brother. A tiny burst of adrenaline shot through her body, an autonomic response to a possible threat that geared up the fight-or-flight reflex. She knew how her family's presence felt, could almost see the auras they emitted, a gentle orange that reminded her of the edge of a campfire's flame, warm and welcome and comforting. These were anything but. These felt secretive and mysterious, neither of which she liked in a place she didn't know. She slid off the bed.

"Mom?" The only answer was a moaning breeze that wafted through the open balcony door and made the curtains flutter. "Navin?" This wasn't right. They'd both been here just a few hours ago, but now even their beds were gone. They had little reason to go anywhere else, even elsewhere inside the academy building. The structure was huge and would take at least a week to completely explore. Add to that the armed guards just outside the living space doors and the quarters they'd been provided with began to feel a lot more like a lavish prison block than a student Stonekeeper's private area.

Suddenly she saw a silhouette through the waving curtains, dark and ominous, a face less intruder who didn't answer to her demands for identification. Even when the figure stepped into full view, its face was covered with a segmented mask, more like an armored shell than a simple means to hide itself. She set herself in a defensive posture, ready to fight if she had to. Then a gloved hand gripped her wrist.

She whipped around to see the tall, gray-haired man whom Max had called Duncan standing there. His face was a stone mask that barely hinted at malicious intent and his eyes glowed an unnatural bright blue. "What are you doing?"

"You will come with us." It was more an order than a suggestion.

"What have you done with my family?" she demanded.

"You have been summoned by the Council. Your uniform is on your bed. Please get dressed." He said this in a tone that was almost polite, and it made her that much more nervous. She hadn't felt particularly warm and fuzzy about him before, but now he seemed more like a cactus dressed in barbed wire.

"Let go of my arm!" Duncan did, but his face didn't change. Emily looked back and forth between him and his underlings, and decided she didn't have much choice. She slipped into the proffered uniform. The minute she'd finished getting it comfortable, before she could process what was happening, steel manacles were snapped around her wrists. "What are you doing? What's this about?"

"You asked to be taken to see the Guardian Council. Now you'll get our wish."

"Yeah," Emily shot back. "To the Council, not a jury! Take these off!"

Duncan didn't answer beyond signaling his men, who grabbed Emily by her shoulders and pushed her along in front of them.

* * *

Needless to say, Emily was angry. She'd asked to be taken to the Council and been all but ordered to put on a suit she'd never seen before, then slapped in a pair of manacles. This Duncan fellow and his buddies certainly weren't scoring any points with her like this. Fortunately, he'd been just vague enough to spark her curiosity. She could only assume they were taking her to see her family, and that these people somehow saw her as a threat. They needn't have worried, unless they'd done something to her mother and brother. Then they'd have plenty of reason to be worried.

They walked her down a long hallway in the academy before exiting in a large open space filled with ornamental trees and flowering plants. There was no roof and the starry night sky shone down in all its glory. "Welcome to the Garden of the Keepers," Duncan said. "This will be the nexus for the Council's series of tests. You'll meet your fellow students here."

Emily didn't speak as one of Duncan's minions unclipped the manacles from her wrists. She glared at the masked figure. The empty eye slits of its mask seemed to glare right back.

"That Council will be with you shortly. Good luck." Duncan said the last over his shoulder and didn't sound at all like he meant it. He walked through the door after his fellows, which slid shut with a deep metallic boom behind him, and the garden was left in silence.

Left with no other option, Emily began to explore the garden. At first she saw only plants and some waterbirds swimming in a small pond fed by a burbling waterfall. Insects wove through the flowering plants, flitting between their blooms. Some of the flowers were unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Some were spellbinding, emitting alluring glows or beautiful but haunting musical notes; other seemed to be literally alive. Of the latter, some lipped gently at her hands or kissed her fingers as she passed while others seemed to follow her with predatory attention. She avoided those.

As she got deeper into the garden, she saw some features that were much more ominous. Namely, statues. Statues with detail too fine to have been carved by human hands, almost like the figures they represented were frozen were they'd stood. "Such strange statues." She came around one and saw a familiar male figure sitting at the base of a tree, his knees drawn to his chest and his face in his arms. He seemed distressed. Then she recognized him. "Max." She approached him. "Max, what's going on here? Where'd they take my family?"

He didn't respond right away, but when he did, his voice was small and broken. "I'm so sorry, Emily."

This caught her off guard. "Sorry? What for?"

"For lying to you. Just like he lied to us," answered another voice. She turned to see another young man coming out of the trees, cracking his knuckles and glaring lethal daggers at Max. "Can't you see? He's led us into a trap!"

Max's head shot up indignantly. "The Council promised me no one would get hurt! They're the ones who lied!"

But the other boy was having none of it. He stomped up to Max and grabbed his arm. "I should seriously kill you right now, Griffin!"

"Stop!" Yet another new voice, this one female, interrupted him. "You don't want blood on your hands, Pierce. Leave him alone."

The dark boy, Pierce, looked angrily at the girl. "You know this creep deserves it, Ronin!"

"Maybe so," Ronin agreed, "but we should let the Void determine his fate."

Pierce turned his angry gaze back on Max. "You're going to get what's coming to you, Griffin," he promised. "Maybe not now, but you will get it."

Ronin turned to look at Emily. "And you must be the new kid," she said, not unkindly.

Emily nodded in affirmation. "My name's Emily. Emily Hayes."

"Pleased to meet you, Emily. I'm Ronin Larsen, and this hothead here is Pierce Bowers."

"Hey," said Pierce in greeting. "So what did Max tell you? That you're the 'chosen one' here to save Cielis from a terrible fate? 'Cause that's what he told the rest of us."

Emily shook her head. "Just that I would be tested."

"And did he tell you about the consequences of failing these tests?" Pierce asked, his words heavy. "You don't just get to walk away, Emily. Stonekeepers are brought here to die."

"Stop scaring her, Pierce," Ronin admonished.

"I'm not scared," Emily said. "I want to know everything." Pierce and Ronin looked at her. "How many other Stonekeepers are here with us?"

Ronin sighed. It sounded almost sad. "When the tests began, there were at least thirty of us. Now there is only a handful left."

"What happened to the other?"

"Did you happen to notice the pretty statues?" Pierce asked, but his words lacked either sarcasm or humor.

"When you died in the Void," Ronin said, "you get turned to stone."

"The Void?" asked Emily. Before she could get an answer, an unearthly cry emitted by multiple voices shrieked through the garden, so powerful that leaves rustled and branches swayed. "What is that?"

"The Council," Ronin told her. "The tests are about to begin. We need to meet in the center of the garden. Follow us."

Emily looked at Max. "You coming?"

He staggered to his feet. "Yeah, I'm right behind you."

Emily nodded and resumed her previous query. "Ronin, what is the Void?"

"The Void," Ronin explained, "is a simulation. It's a virtual space where the Council sends us to be tested. This week's tests are to be the final ones. Whoever survives them will join the Council."

"Oh, no," Pierce muttered. Two tall figures, one bald and one with shaggy brown hair, stood nearby, chatting amiably like they were at no risk whatsoever. "Look who's still here."

They turned to the approaching group and smiled arrogantly. "Pierce!" the bald one said. "Glad you're still with us! We'd figured you were toast! Sorry your buddy bit the dust, by the way. But he wasn't strong enough to be here from the beginning."

Pierce's face contorted angrily. "James was my best friend," he said hotly.

The bald one scoffed and grinned nastily. "What part of 'survival of the fittest' don't you understand?"

Pierce shoved his face into the bald one's. "I hope you realize that there's no way I'm letting you get through this unscathed!"

"Pierce," Ronin said in warning.

"I know, I know," Pierce conceded. "Save it for the Void."

"Isn't this a last-man-standing kind of deal?" asked the bald one. "Ronin can be the last one standing with me."

Ronin's eyes flashed in angry disgust. "Find me in the Void," she challenged, "and we'll see who's the last one standing."

The implication of her words caught Emily by surprise. "We fight each other?" she asked, alarmed.

"We do whatever it takes to survive," Ronin told her.

"Who invited the little traitor along?" asked the bald guy, grabbing Max by his shoulders. "For that matter, why is he still alive?"

"It would appear the Council abandoned him," said his friend.

Baldy grinned threateningly at Max. "You hear that, shrimp? Nobody wants you on their side. That means the moment you step into the Void, you're as good as stone."

Another bloodcurdling cry rent the air. "Here they come!" said Ronin.

A large disc appeared out of nowhere and hovered several yards above the group. Four caped and crowned figure stood on it, looking down at the pupils. "Stonekeepers," one of the said in a booming voice. "Welcome to you final days of testing. Your abilities have brought you this far, but it will take more than raw talent to succeed at the academy. It will also require sacrifice and determination to succeed at any cost. Show us weakness or mercy, and you will find a permanent place in the Garden of the Keepers. Show us your strength, and we will make you a god. Good luck, keepers."

In a flash of light, they disappeared, and wind began to rush past.

"What's happening?" Emily shouted over the gale.

"We're entering the Void!" Ronin told her. "Just hold tight!" She and the other candidates splintered apart and disappeared.

Emily felt something funny, a slight tingling sensation that rapidly intensified into a searing pain as she also splintered apart and vanished from the world she knew.

* * *

The pain stopped as suddenly as it began. After giving herself a once-over to make sure she was still intact and had all her pieces, she looked around. No longer was she in the Garden of the Keepers, but an immense cavern. Huge stone columns supported the ceiling high above and bits of glowing rock hovered motionless above stalagmites that also glowed. She recalled the shape of the chunk of land that must have been taken with Cielis when the city was lifted from the earth, and reasoned that this cavern was somewhere inside it.

"Pst!" An urgent sound broke through her thoughts and caught her attention. "Emily! Over here!"

She turned to see a figure with black hair styled into a flame waving urgently at her. "Max?"

Max grimaced and made frantic shushing motions. "Keep it down and come over here," he whispered.

Emily approached him. "Max, what's going on?" she asked.

"Get back here and get down!" he told her, motioning for her to hurry.

Emily did as she was bidden and hurriedly crouched beside Max. "What are we hiding from?" she whispered. Max held up a hand, signaling her to be quiet. She saw him shudder, and wondered what could possibly have him so jumpy. A strange noise reached them, a sound like a rasping purr, then the thing making it crawled into view and she understood.

The creature was humanoid in general appearance, with a slender body and taught muscles, but looked severely undernourished and was obviously not human. It had long limbs that seemed to stretch as it crawled by with extremities that ended in sharp claws. Knobby bumps sprouted from its spine and ran from its shoulders to its bony, segmented tail. Its head was sharp and angular in the general shape of half a heart with small pointed ears, twin eyes that glowed a ghostly bluish-white but appeared to be blind and a mouth full of teeth that looked sharp enough to rend bone.

The creature paused and looked in their direction, seeming to sense that there was something nearby, and they huddled lower in their hiding place. But it made no effort to investigate, and simply hissed before it turned and crept off into the darkness.

Only when it was out of sight did they release the breaths they'd been holding. "I think it's gone now," Max said.

Emily shivered. "What was that thing?" she asked.

"A groul," he told her. "They were used by the old Council to guard their most valuable treasures. I hadn't realized they still existed."

"What are they guarding here?"

"That's a good question. I don't know."

Emily looked around to make sure there weren't any other ugly surprises lurking in the dark, waiting to pounce. Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, she said, "Let's not hang around for it to come back. We better find the others."

"I'd rather not, if you know what I mean." Max sounded nervous.

Emily turned to face him. "No, I don't know. And why do they have it out for you?"

Max looked dismayed. "I guess," he said slowly, "I didn't tell them the whole truth. I didn't tell them what it would be like."

"What were they expecting? A normal school?"

"I'm not sure what they were expecting, but it doesn't matter now. Not everyone's as resilient as you are, Emily; they aren't willing to face difficult challenges. That's what makes you special."

"Well, the one thing I've learned about difficult challenges is that you don't want to face them alone. We're going to need the others' help whether you like it or not," she said, then added in a requesting tone, "And don't flatter me. It makes me feel weird."

They continued on through the cavern. The whole place was very ominous: Vast areas of overwhelming darkness with only the eerie glow of luminescent rocks for any kind of reference or even somewhere to go. They climbed through a shallow trough cut into the rock by some ancient flow of water toward a glow that reminded Emily of city lights in the distance, and they deduced that it must be a way out. They moved quickly but carefully, keeping a watchful eye on the shadows—one or more of those grouls could be watching them right now.

"Ow." Max's spoke more out of surprise than pain, and they stopped.

Emily turned around. "What happened?"

He looked at her, his face a mask of confused pain. "I cut myself."

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "I'm fine, but you're not supposed to bleed in the Void."

Emily looked at him blankly for an instant before remembering that Ronin had said that the Void was a simulation, a state of virtual reality where everything felt real, but wasn't. Except for the result of failure. "Maybe it's a part of the test?" she suggested.

"No," Max said definitively. "That's not supposed to happen. Something's not right." They went on for a short while before Max spoke again. "Wait a minute. I know this place." He looked around. "I've been here before; I'm sure of it."

Emily turned to ask him when he'd been here before and what he recognized, but the sound of a discharge of magic stopped her and she was climbing up a short stone cliff before he could tell her to stop. "Walk away, Zaren!" Max follower her up. They peeked over the top and saw Ronin and Pierce standing several yards away from the other two she'd met in the garden. Zaren was apparently the one with his stone active in his uniform's collar.

Apparently, it was Pierce they'd heard. "You don't have to do this," the dark boy said. "We can both live to fight a little longer. Just walk away."

Zaren glared with deadly determination at him. "Why delay the inevitable, Pierce?" he demanded. "Let's finish this. Right here, right now."

"Let's go," Emily said, tensing her muscles and getting ready to vault over and slide down, but a hand gripped her arm. She looked back at Max. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"We need to stop them from killing each other!"

"If they finish each other off, we won't have to."

Emily was horrified. "Max!" she exclaimed. "How can you even think that? Don't their lives mean anything to you?"

"Of course, but—"

"But what, Max? I know this is a game of survival, but we need to play by different rules! We both know that none of us will get out of here alive if we go it alone! I don't know about you, but I'm not in the habit of betting on other peoples' lives! We need to find a way out of this! Otherwise, we're all dead!"

Max seemed undecided for an eye-blink, but then nodded. Emily launched herself over the edge and slid down the face, powering up her own stone as she approached the base. The minute she hit the cave floor again, she unleashed her stone's magic and wrapped it around Zaren's neck. The bald man let out a strangled noise as she lifted him from the ground. "Leave my friends alone!"

"This is none of your business!" Zaren said.

"So I'm making it my business," Emily told him, her eyes glowing. "What part of 'survival of the fittest' didn't you understand?"

Zaren looked over toward his minion. "Chuck! Do something!"

Chuck only looked on in fear. "She's too strong," he whimpered.

Zaren growled angrily. "You useless, whimpering pup! You're useless!"

Emily zapped him with her stone's energy, returning his attention to her. "If I let you down," she asked, "will you behave?"

Now there was furious in Zaren's voice, but he was busy just trying to breath and couldn't lash out at Emily in self-defense. "Okay, okay! Yes!"

"You promise? Can I trust you? I haven't known you very long, but you've already proven to be unpleasant."

"Yes, yes! I promise!" Now his voice was becoming frightened. "Please, let me down."

"I'll hold you to that. Now apologize to my friends."

"Okay, I'm sorry! Sorry!" The energy holding him disappeared and his hit the ground with a dull thump. He looked at Emily with fearful respect, who looked back at him with fierce determination, then scrambled to his feet and jumped away.

"Nice going, Hayes!" Pierce congratulated, then turned to Max. "No for some unfinished business."

"Pierce, wait. I can help you," Max said pleadingly.

Pierce activated his stone. "It's a little late for that, Griffin."

Max started to back away. "Wait! Please, you have to listen to me!"

Pierce grabbed Max's collar and pulled him nose to nose. "Listening to you is what got us here in the first place!"

"But I'm on your side!"

Emily put a restraining hand on Pierce's shoulder. "Let him talk, Pierce," she said.

He looked over his shoulder at her. "You don't know what this little weasel is capable of. He lied to us and left us for dead. We're lucky he got dropped in the Void with us so we can get our revenge." He grabbed Max's arm and prepared to shove his fist into Max's face.

"But we're not in the Void!" Max said. It had the desired effect, stopping Pierce's impending strike cold. "That's what I wanted to tell you! We're in the catacombs beneath Cielis. It's a real place, and I can get us out of here."

Pierce bared his teeth and shoved Max down. "You're lying."

"The Void is virtual reality, right? Where everything seems real, but isn't? Well, I cut myself and am bleeding now, just like your nose, which isn't supposed to happen there."

Pierce grabbed Max's collar again and pulled him upright roughly. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, Griffin," he snarled, "but I'd rather get rid of you before we all find out." He pulled back his fist for another punch, but stopped when a grating purr reached all their ears. "What was that?"

"The real threat," Max said. "We should get to high ground. Now."

Drops of liquid fell onto Chuck's head and shoulders, and he looked up. In a hollow space in the ceiling above were dozens of skeletal creatures, all looking down at him. "Uh, guys?" Suddenly, they chain-linked themselves and grabbed him, but his panicked cry for help was choked off.

The others turned around. "Chuck?" Zaren said. Through a large crack in the wall they suddenly saw dozens of eyes. "What the—"

Then one of them leapt out. "Run!" cried Ronin.

And run they did, going instantly from a dead stop to a dead sprint. They turned on their heels and dashed away, fear and knowing they were hopelessly outnumbered lending energy to their legs. A sizeable horde of grouls was hot on their heels, all making agitated noises that sounded like someone trying to eat glass and gravel. Not far ahead they saw a slope and instantly started to climb it. Zaren was last to start up, but his foot slipped and he disappeared beneath the grouls.

"Keep climbing!" Pierce urged when Ronin looked down.

The grouls were gaining. One latched its bony finger onto Emily's arm, and she reflexively struck it with her stone's energy. The ugly creature shrieked its agony as it was thrown from the slope. But more were there to take its place. She struck out at another, which also shriek-ed when it was hit.

Max reached down. "Give me your hand!" She took it, he pulled her up and then loosed a massive discharge of power that blasted at least a dozen of the creatures from the slope. Emily looked down in awe. "Are you okay?" Max asked.

After overcoming her amazement, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

On the top of the slope was a large pipe with a hole in it. "We can escape through the drainpipe," Max told the others. "It leads toward the exit!"

Pierce looked into the pipe. Inside water rushed past. "You've got to be kidding, Griffin."

"No time to argue! Get in!"

It was more the crowd of grouls advancing toward them than Max's trustworthiness that convinced them all to go. Pierce jumped in first, his cry of alarm and uncertainty fading as the water carrying him away. Ronin got in next. "See you on the other side," she told Emily, then was gone.

"You go first," Emily told Max.

Max looked hurt. "You still don't trust me?"

"I'll be right behind you," she assured him. He nodded and jumped in. Once she was sure he was fare enough ahead that she wouldn't land on him wherever this pipe led to, she hopped inside. The water felt like a mountain river in spring, icy-cold and powerful. But there was no other way out. She looked back at the closest grouls, gave them a rather bawdy goodbye gesture, then let the water carry her off.

The ride didn't last long. After half a minute of pitch blackness, she saw a white circle and knew she was almost at the end. She let out a startled cry when the pipe dumped her out twenty feet above an expanse of water. She had just enough time to straighten her body and take a deep breath before penetrating the surface like an arrow. The water was freezing cold, and the shock almost made her open her mouth. The momentum of her fall forced her deep into the lake, until she finally stopped near some sort of structure that looked like a helmeted figure. Something was tethered to the top of its head, and panic shot through her when he realized that it was a skeleton.

She hurriedly swam toward the surface and broke it with a gulp of air. "Emily!" She looked around and saw Max standing on the edge of a jagged stone island. "Over here!"

She swam over and he helped her out of the water. "Where are we, Max?" she asked, panting.

"The cistern," he answered. "It's where the city's water supply comes from."

"What about the grouls? Won't they try to follow us?"

"Not if they want to live." The others looked at him, expecting him to explain. "They can't swim."

They all stood in silence for a moment, then Pierce said, "What now, Griffin?"

"I'll take us to the exit," Max replied.

"How can we know you're telling the truth?" Ronin asked, more than a little suspicious, and Emily didn't blame her. She might not know Max well, but she knew enough to know that he was a sly character, and was a bit suspicious herself.

"Look," Max said wearily. "I'm only trying to help. You can either follow me out, or go by yourself. It's your choice."


	5. Chapter 4

The sun slowly lowered on Cielis, the legendary city's buildings turning subdued shades of rosy pink and gentle gold in the waning rays. Birds flew high above the roofs, calling their evening songs. But there was no one out to listen. Contrary to the expectation of those who believed the city still existed, the streets were dark and silent and empty, devoid of the night life that might have filled them in times past. But something had happened to make the city's denizens fearful almost to the point of paranoia. Most of the houses were just as silent as the rest of the city, but one was lit with bright lanterns from within.

Next to a table inside that house, Leon Redbeard and company stood listening to Amelia Pine, architect of the last place anyone in their right mind would want to be and the one place he and his friends were trying to reach. "Years ago," said Amelia, "I designed Yarboro Penitentiary, but it was only after construction was complete that I realized I'd made a mistake. I found a simple design flaw that would com-promise the institution's security. Now imagine my surprise to see that this flaw can serve a good purpose. Even when you don't know what you're doing, you kind of do, I guess." She tapped a spot on the schematic of the prison. "That's the entry point. It's a grate with blind spots on all sides. No one will see you there."

"Thank you, ma'am," Leon said gratefully. "For your help and the lodging. We won't soon forget it."

Alison stepped forward and hugged Amelia affectionately. "Thanks for everything, Mrs. Pine."

Amelia wrapped her arms around the girl's neck. "Don't worry about it." Then she stepped back and held Alison at arms' length. "Aly. I've watched you grow up into a fine young woman, beautiful and brave. We don't have many young fighters left in this town, and I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you, so please, for all our sakes, be careful."

Aly looked at Amelia with a determined glint in her eyes. "I will, and we'll see each other again. I promise."

* * *

Alison, Leon, Enzo and Rico peeked over a crenelation wall of an empty guard post overlooking the bridge to the prison's main gate. Guards lined both sides of the bridge, while four other escorted a group of prisoners. "Look," said Enzo, pointing. "Another group of prisoners, but none of them look like criminals. This place has gone loopy, Chief."

"At this rate," Leon observed grimly, "the whole city will be under arrest in a week."

"I've never seen the guard so active before," Aly said. "They must be planning something."

"Then we better move before we find out what." Leon took up a coil of rope with a grapple hook on one end. He gripped the rope a foot from the hook and started swinging it in a circle like a lasso loop until the hook was a whirling blur above his head, then, using the hook's weight and momentum, gave a mighty heave that sent the hooked end flying upward toward a higher tower, where the hook latched onto the low wall. He yanked the rope twice to ensure a secure grip, then nodded to his compatriots and they started climbing.

Aly went up first, then Leon and Enzo, with Rico bringing up the rear. The wall they climbed was nearly vertical, making their ascent difficult and more than a little perilous. One slip of a foot and hand could prove fatal. Finally they reached the top. Aly investigated a hole in the stone floor while Leon pulled himself up. "I think I found the grate," she said.

Leon and Enzo joined her. They looked down through the gaps in the bars. "It looks like a tight fit," commented Leon, then looked at Enzo.

The big cat was starting to get nervous. "Why are you looking at me like that? There's now way I'll—"

"Aly and I are going down there, Enzo. You're staying up here to keep watch." He took up another length of rope and tied it to a one of the bars.

Aly slid through the middle of the grate. "I'm looking for elves, right?"

Leon and Enzo nodded. "You'll probably smell them before you see them," Enzo told her.

Aly's feet hit the hard stone floor of the cell block they were in. The air was cold and stale and still as the grave, and the hallway that ran down the center of the block was long and narrow, interspersed with areas of dim light and overwhelming blackness. Somewhere she heard the chattering of teeth, the hoarse sound of a cough, the weak moans of a hopeless soul. These people weren't just imprisoned for reasons un-known, they were ill and hungry. They needed care, and heaven knew they weren't going to get it here.

"Aly?"

The girl turned at the mention of her name and saw a middle-age man pressing his face as far through the bars of his cell as he could. He looked familiar. "Mr. Peters!"

"Aly! It is you!" She ran up to him and put her hands on his fingers. They were like ice. "I don't know why they threw me in here! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Don't worry, we'll get you out," she told him. "But we need to find some friends who can help us first. Have you seen any elves being brought through here?"

"I heard about two elves being held in Cell Block 4, but why are you dealing with elves?"

"Let's go," Leon said.

"And who's this half-breed?" The old man looked at the fox warily. He called after Aly as she followed him down the corridor, "Aly, you mustn't trust them! Trust no one!"

"The people of Cielis are stricken with fear," Leon told her sagely. "It clouds their judgment and makes them difficult to deal with. That means we leave the others until we can resolve things with the Council. Understand?"

"I understand." They ran past several blocks, Leon checking the right side while Aly checked the right. It wasn't long before she saw a dejected-looked elf in one of them. "Leon!" The fox stopped and looked at her. "I found them!"

Leon walked up to the bars and looked inside, where he saw two very familiar elves. "So," he said, "things didn't quite go according to plan."

Luger's head jerked up. "Leon!" He looked equally stunned and pleased.

"This city is as corrupt as my homeland," Trellis said, looking at the fox gravely. "If this was your last hope, I'd say we're all in deep trouble."

"You're right," Leon agreed. "The Guardian Council has been compromised. In order to set things straight, I'll need your help." He reached over his shoulder and gripped his sword hilt. "Hold still." And in one swift stroke, he sheered the dampening collar from Trellis' neck. "Now get out fo there."

Trellis looked at him with a questioning look in his eyes. "You trust me over your own superiors. Why?"

"There are no superiors, Trellis. We're on our own now."

Trellis smiled. "Welcome to the club." He used his stone's power to bend the bars outward and create a doorway. "Where's Emily?"

"We were separated at the landing platform," the fox said, "just after we lost you. She's at the Academy now."

"Trellis believes his father has something to do with this," Luger said.

"He's in the city," Trellis affirmed. "I can feel it."

"Aly! Aly!"

She turned and saw her parents. "Mom! Dad!"

"My baby! What are you doing here? They didn't get you too, did they!?"

"No, Mom, I'm still free. And we'll get you out of here soon, I promise!" Then she became aware of a third occupant in the cell. "Mr. Beckman?"

"Do you see that?" the man demanded furiously. "Your daughter is consorting with elves!"

"Or they're consorting with her," her father pointed out.

"Regardless, someone has to stop her!"

"If they're with her, they're here to help."

"Then you leave me no choice." He took a deep breath and shouted, "Guards!"

Aly's father took the man in a wrestling hold. "Are you insane? Do you want to stay here forever?" The bigger man struggled, but was unable to break his captor's hold. "I hate to do this to you Logan, but you'll thank me later." To his daughter he said, "Aly get out of here now! Go!"

Aly nodded and turned to leave. "I love you!" she called.

"I love you too, Aly," her mother said tearfully.

"Hurry," Leon urged. Aly latched onto the roped and climbed for all she was worth.

"You first," Trellis said. Leon climbed up, and the elf prince followed him.

Enzo was pulling up Luger when suddenly another voice spoke. "End of the line, outsiders."

Leon looked up and saw the prison guard captain standing several yards away, flanked by several of his subordinates. He reached for his sword. "Leon," Trellis said, "there are too many of them."

"If we can take out the captain, we might have a chance." He drew his sword. "Just follow my lead." He leapt into action, launching himself at the prison warden. The metallic clang of steel on steel rent the air as their blades met. The warden's eyes glowed, catching Leon off guard for just an instant, but that was enough for the man to counter his attack. He shoved his foot into Leon's gut and kicked him away.

Leon landed at Trellis' feet. "How about you follow my lead this time?" the elf suggested.

Leon bounced to his feet. "Be my guest."

Trellis distracted the warden by wrapping his stone's magic around him while Leon dashed up and kicked the man in the chest. The warden struck the wall with his back, and shattered upon impact.

"He turned to stone!" Leon exclaimed.

The guards didn't seem the least bit fazed by the loss of their captain. "Any more bright ideas?" Trellis asked. "I don't think we'll be able to kick our way out of this one."

"You're right," Leon agreed, tightening the straps on his gauntlets. "We'll have to do some punching, too." He faced the remaining guards and adopted a fighting stance. "You ready?"

Trellis didn't get to answer before revving engines and displaced air suddenly interrupted their hopeless situation. Leon and Trellis whirled around, expecting to see some reinforcement the prison guards had needlessly called in, but instead saw an old sea-green aircraft with three engines and an equal number of occupants. Of the three engines, one large motor was mounted on the forward top of the hull and two smaller ones were set on swivels in the wings. Of the three occupants, one was an old man at the controls on the starboard side and two very familiar figures were on the port bow. "Leon, Trellis! Look out behind you!"

"Miskit! You're okay!" But Leon's euphoria was cut short as the blade of a guard's polearm whooshed past his ear, missing his shoulder by mere inches. With movement just as quick and twice as fluid, he clamped his hand on the blade and trapped it on the ground before deliver-ing a one-two strike to the guard's head. The armor-clad man fell and shattered into thousands of stone fragments.

Meanwhile, Trellis was facing several other prison guards, all completely unaffected it seemed by the loss of their captain and fellow guardsman. He activated the stone in his collar and was preparing to strike when an old voice said, "Stand back, son." He turned and saw the old man from the airship that had suddenly appeared looking at him. "You're a Stonekeeper, aren't you?" the old man asked, but didn't wait for an answer before he charged up his own stone and infused its power into the staff he was carrying. Then, quick as a coiled rattlesnake, he struck, destroying the first guard and then swinging his staff in a wide arc, taking out all the others in a single attack.

Trellis reached down and picked up one of the fragments. "Stone again," he said. "It's a curse, isn't it?"

"You should have seen this coming a mile away. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book," the old man said. "This is the work of a very powerful and gifted Stonekeeper, one who has managed to use his or her stone to animate these statues and give them the illusion of living beings." He looked around at the broken bits of stone all around them. "This is one of the most thorough illusions I've ever seen."

Miskit picked up some pieces and said, "If it was so thorough, then why did the statues break apart so easily?"

"The illusion's strength," Vigo explained, "depends both on the skill of proximity of the caster. Given how easily these statues were destroyed, it's likely the Stonekeeper responsible is far away from here."

"Silas used to say that his distance spells rarely worked when he was underground," Cogsley supplied, Dagno perched on his shoulder.

Vigo tapped his beard thoughtfully with a stone fragment. "Underground. Of course." He looked at Leon. "Where did you say Emily went?"

"To the academy," the fox answered.

"The academy."

"The Motherstone, sir," said Cecil gravely.

"We must get to Emily quickly. Cecil, gather the others." He turned toward his ship. "Let's go! We have no time to lose!"

"Cecil," Aly said, "why do the statues take the form of the deceased?"

The robot turned to her and answered, "The power to reanimate is one of the darkest forms of magic. Enormous quantities of negative energy are required to keep the illusion intact." He looked at the stone pieces at their feet. "The image of death triggers the darkest thoughts in a person's mind, and the illusion can feed off the fear and sadness that results. Simply put, illusions of the dead are stronger."

"Then whoever's creating these illusions must not care very much about other people."

"Unfortunately," said Cecil gravely, "that is the mark of many powerful Stonekeepers."


	6. Chapter 5

Deep beneath the city, the four young Guardian Council recruits stood on the edge of a short cliff overlooking an immense field of hundreds of hexagonal tiles. Half were bright aqua, half were dark blue, and on all of them was a strange symbol that looked like characters from another language. At the far end of the field was a set of massive double doors, each one inlaid with six tiles that matched the color of its corresponding side of the field.

"What is this, Griffin?" asked Pierce, sounding suspicious.

"It's an old Cielan children's game," Max told him. "Two players follow the same path simultaneously: One player takes the light path while the other takes the dark path. It must be the key to opening that door."

"What happens if you step on the wrong tile?" asked Emily.

Pierce picked up a sizeable rock and tossed it out into the field with a grunt. The tile that the rock landed on turned red and vaporized the stone. "You lose, apparently," he answered.

"And how do we know the proper order?" Emily looked at Max, who was studying the field intently. Lately she'd been feeling less and less comfortable around him; he was too mysterious for her liking and always seemed to dodge the questions whose answers might mean success or failure. He was leaving her with more problems than solutions.

Ronin knelt at the edge of the cliff and also studied the field. "The markings on the tiles are from the old Cielan number system," she said. "This doesn't look like a puzzle at all. It's simply telling us the correct sequence."

"Then the challenge," Max concluded, "must be to see if we can work together."

Emily looked at him. "I feel like I just showed up for an exam I didn't study for."

"Don't worry, Emily," he assured her. "We'll be here to guide you though."

"They don't believe we can work together," Ronin said, her reference to the Council full of disdain. "They think we would rather destroy each other for a spot on the Council. I don't know about the rest of you, but I just want to go home."

"Max goes first," declared Pierce.

"What?" Max squeaked.

"You want to regain our trust, you can start right here. You owe this to us."

Max glowered. "I don't owe you anything." He jumped off the cliff and used his stone's magic to safely descend onto one of the dark tiles, which instantly became the color of the tiles on the other side. "All clear," he called.

"Pierce," Ronin said, "follow Max. Emily, you're with me." She jumped down and Emily followed. "Stay with me," Ronin told her. She took off and Emily followed two tiles behind. They were almost across when Emily noticed something and stopped. "What are you waiting for?" Ronin asked.

"The tile you're standing on. It's not lighting up."

"Emily, listen," said Max. "This isn't the time to hesitate. All our lives hang in the balance!"

"But something's wrong here, Max. I can sense it."

"If you make one false move, we all die! We need to trust each other and stay focused."

"Yeah, so says the serpent's tongue!" snapped Pierce.

Emily looked back at Ronin, whose face was desperate and frightened. "Please, Emily," she pleaded. "Let's go home."

Emily's resolve was bolstered by that plea, and she continued on determinedly. She made it to the last tile Ronin had stood on and it lit up. The sound of immense locks disengaging resounded through the chamber and the big door opened. They all looked through the opening and down a long passage, and on either side were four huge statues of regal men with bowed heads. Suddenly, she recalled what her stone's spirit had said about it. "Max," she said, "this isn't the exit."

The others stopped and looked at her. "What do you mean?" Max asked.

"Before I arrived in the city, my stone told me about this hallway. It warned me about walking through it."

Max looked back toward the light pouring in through the unobstructed portal at the end of the hall. "Did it tell you what you might find at the end?"

"No."

He looked back at her, his expression hurt. "And you trust the voice more than us?" he said. "There aren't many people who can really understand what it's like to be a Stonekeeper; that's why we've had to stick together. Come on. We're almost out."

Air rushed into the passage and Emily raised her arm for shield her face from the sudden gale. They stepped out of the hallway into a massive chamber, and in the center, suspended between the broken halves of an enormous column, there was a crystal shard. It was the size of her arm, the color of sky and radiated a brilliant light. But for all its impressiveness and beauty, Emily knew something was wrong. "Max! This isn't the exit! We need to turn around!"

But Max wasn't listening. He kept moving toward the shard.

"Ronin! Pierce! We need to—" She stopped in mid-sentence when she turned and saw what had happened while she wasn't looking. "Ronin? Pierce?" Their companions had turned to stone!

Max took the crystal in his hand and considered it thoroughly before turning to look at her. "Do you have any idea what this is, Emily? It's where you and I were truly born." Emily stared at him incomprehensibly. "This is what remains of the Motherstone! And it contains enough energy to create a new Guardian Council. The future of Alledia now rests in our hands!"

Emily looked back to see the stone figures that had been Ronin and Pierce crumble to pieces. "What have you done, Max?" she shout-ed. "What have you done to the others!?"

"Don't you see?" Max asked. The four men on the disc she'd seen in the garden appeared, but then Max hit it with his stone's energy, and they all shattered as well. "There are no others," he told her. "It's just you and I."

"It was all a lie," she said, venomous realization spreading over her face.

"I needed your help to get inside this vault. It takes two stones from the Guardian Council to gain access."

"Why did you need my help? What do you want the Motherstone for?"

"I already told you: To make a new Guardian Council. The old one is dead and new blood must be found."

"And that blood I'm guessing is yours and mine?" Max nodded. "And if that blood isn't willing?"

"Then it's drained and replaced. And there are lots of donors."

"That's not donation, Max, that's harvesting. A donor requires a willing sacrifice, but what you're talking about is forcing others into a situation they might not want to be in."

"Oh, they'll be willing, I assure you."

"Put the stone back or I'll have no choice but to hurt you!"

Max smirked. "You always have a choice, Emily."

"Em!" She turned around to see her brother and mother being held by the silver-haired man she'd seen with Max when they'd first met and another armored man she didn't recognize. The silver-haired man—Duncan, that was his name—held her mother with a sword to her neck while the armored one held tightly to her brother, who was struggling and demanding to be set free.

"The greatest Stonekeepers in history," Max went on in a lecturer's tone, "were able to turn off their emotions. This allowed them to make the best possible decisions under great pressure. It was the mark of an iron will, something required in all our greatest leaders. The guards have been ordered to kill your family if you try to attack me. So here's your choice: You can try to stop me while your family is killed, or you can let me walk out of here and I'll spare their lives."

Emily glared poison daggers at him. "Why are you doing this, Max?" Her voice was calm, but her tone was full of rage. He tipped his head to one side. "If Alledia's future security is really your chief concern, why threaten those who want the same thing? What do you hope to gain by threatening my family? You'll be gaining an enemy."

"But I'll also be gaining a powerful ally."

Realization suddenly dawned on her. "The elf king! Max, don't you realize who he is? What he is? He's pursued me relentlessly ever since I came to this place just because of some stupid prophecy. We're only here because a giant bug ate my mom and we followed it to get her back! Besides, how do I know you'll keep your word?"

"You'll just have to trust me," Max told her simply. "Something you've had no trouble doing until now."

"Why betray us, Max? What made you throw your lot in with the bad guys?"

"I think you know that answer, and you're wasting my time. What's your choice?"

Emily's glare turned even more deadly, but she said, "Get out of here, Max."

He walked past her. "I'm very disappointed, Emily. It seems you don't have what it takes to be on the new Council." He looked back at her and smirked. "Someday, you'll learn to make sacrifices for the greater good."

"And you'll learn the consequences of betrayal. I'm going to find you, Max, and I'm going to take you down."

Max laughed. "I'll be looking forward to it." He motioned to Duncan and the armored man and they released Karen and Navin, who ran over to Emily and embraced her. Max was utterly unconcerned with the reunion as he tapped a button on the device on his wrist and then he and his compatriots disappeared.

"They brought you down here without Max," Emily observed. "How?"

"They used a thing called a transpore, just beyond the hexagon field." Navin told her. "I'll show you."

He took off and Emily started to follow, but Karen caught her shoulder. "Emily. I should have listened to you about this place. I was wrong."

"That's in the past now, Mom. We need to stay focused on how to set things right."

* * *

Max and his followers emerged in the Garden of the Keepers with no effort or time lost on their part. Teleportation was one of the privileges of knowing the right people, and Maximilian Griffin certainly knew the right people. He'd made many friends in high places and numerous enemies among the common people, who harbored a deep disdain for him but were powerless to act on it. And that was just how he liked it. "Tell Len we're in the garden," he told Duncan as they walked toward the door. "Tell them to meet us in front of the academy."

Then the door opened, revealing an old man and an elf teenager. The elf was unarmed, but the old man wielded a wooden staff. Both their stones were active. Max only had time to start wondering who they were before the old man suddenly struck, lashing out with his stone's power and reducing Duncan and the guard to so much crushed powder. Max raised his arms to shield his face and give himself time to charge his own stone and strike back. And he did, his attack fueled by fear and rage at being discovered, which he directed at the old man, who raised his staff and used it to absorb the force. "You'll have to do better than that, old man!" Max said.

At that moment, an airship appeared overhead and lowered a rope ladder, which Max immediately grabbed hold of. The elf let loose with his own magic, but Max dispersed it effortlessly. "Who was that?" Trellis asked as the ship flew away.

"The ghost of an old friend," Vigo told him.

Aboard the airship, a gravely voice asked, "Did you get the stone?"

Max held it up with a triumphant smirk. "It was almost too easy."

A squat elf-eyed, elf-eared smiled. "The king will be very pleased."

* * *

Emily led her brother and mother through the seemingly endless labyrinth beneath Cielis, following Navin's directions. After all, he and their mother knew where they'd come through. The passageways were utterly devoid of light but for the glow of the stone in her collar. There was no sound at all in the still air except for the soft pats of their footsteps. On the long trek through the seemingly endless tunnels, she remembered the warning her stone had given her. What will I find at the end? she'd asked.

Navin pointed to a bright blue light that appeared to be some sort of flame. "That's the way out," he said.

It's better that you don't know, the stone had told her.

Karen made for the light, but Emily held out her arm. "Mom, wait." Crawling down the wall was one of the grouls she'd seen earlier, but her mom and Navin wouldn't have any clue what they were. Why keep secrets from me? I'm young, but that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing.

You're not ready, not yet. But you will be soon. Suddenly dozens of grouls crowded around the three, all snarling and eyeing them like a pack of starving wolves. Emily charged her stone. When you begin to realize the true weight of your actions… Then she let loose with a wave of magic fire. …you will awaken to become the person this world needs you to be. The horde of deep-dwelling monsters shattered like the stone statues Ronin and Pierce had become.

Navin gently prodded her forward. "Em," he said, "let's go." They stepped into the transpore and were instantly taken to the Garden of the Keepers, where they met Trellis and an old man they'd never seen before.

"You must be Emily," said the old man with a friendly smile.

* * *

Leon, Miskit and Cogsley were approaching the garden gate with the intent of rushing headlong after whoever had done whatever to Emily, but then the one they sought emerged in the midst of company. Heading the group was Emily, with her brother and Trellis to her right and her mother and Vigo to her left. "Hey, look!" exclaimed Miskit, pointing. "Here they come!"

Navin rushed forward with an ecstatic smile. "Miskit, you're alive!" Then he remembered the pink rabbit was a robot and amended, "Though, technically, you never were." He gave her one last squeeze and retreated a step to look at her. "But what happened? Where'd you go? After that wyvern made off with you and Cogsley, we were sure you'd met your end."

"It's a long story," Miskit told him simply. "One that will have to wait."

"Cogsley!" Navin nodded respectfully and turned toward the grouchy robot, then saw the grinning wide-eyed baby creature perched on his shoulder. "And who's this little guy?"

"Dagno!" the infant wyvern blurted, and all three of them looked at him in disbelief. Then they began to laugh.

Emily approached her fox friend. "Leon," she said gravely, "the Motherstone—it's gone."

"I know," he said with a heavy nod. She noticed that he wasn't angry or upset, but simply acknowledging an unfortunate fact.

"It was Max the whole time. He played me for a fool."

"Emily."

"I sensed there was something funny about him, but I ignored my instincts."

"Stop it."

"Max was playing me like a harp and I let him. I let my sense of duty override my judgment."

"You can't blame yourself."

"Why not? I let it happen. I let him charm me into a sense of security when everyone around me wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp. They said he wasn't trustworthy. I should have listened to their intuition and my gut, but I didn't. And now I've failed everyone."

Then Leon did something he'd never done before: He stepped forward and took her into a hug. "Emily, your condition is not unique," he said softly. "Nobody's perfect. Anyone can be duped, even Stonekeepers who are mentioned in ancient prophecies. Max deceived us all. We weren't ready for an illusion so extensive. And you won't know the meaning of success without knowing first what it's like to fail. How you recover from these trials is what really matters." He stepped back and looked her straight in the eye. "The Elf King has become more powerful than ever before. We'll need to prepare for the longest and hardest battle in our history."

"Hey, Em." She turned toward her brother. "Remember, you're not alone."

* * *

Enzo, Rico and Alyson stood on the bridge that led to the main gate of Yarboro Prison, their eyes fixed on the gaping maw that seemed ready to swallow anything that entered. They'd heard a commotion deep inside that awful fortress, and were now waiting to see the results of it. Before very much longer, a small group of people walked out into the waning sunlight. Aly recognized two of them and broke into a run. "Mom! Dad!"

"Aly!" Arell ran to meet her daughter and wrapper her in a tight embrace, weeping for sheer joy and relief. Enzo and Norman stood on either side, and the tough airship captain surprised himself when he started to cry.

As they stood there watching the happy reunion, more and more former prisoners streamed out of the darkness.


	7. Epilogue

Emily walked along one of the three large bridges that overlooked the city proper. It stood at least three hundred feet high, with enormous arched columns spaced regularly along it length. She looked off to either side, gazing at the city. Because of her confinement in the academy, she'd had no contact with the city below and had to take her friends' word about what it had been like. But now, for the first time since she'd arrived, every single window was brightly lit with the lights that hadn't been used in she didn't know how long. There were no parades, no shouts of joy or euphoric parties, but she knew the people of Cielis were celebrating their newfound liberty.

At the end of the bridge, she saw the old man who'd introduced himself as Vigo standing alone, staring off into the night. He didn't seem to be looking at anything; he just stood there, silent as the city itself. Then he let loose a portion of his stone's magic that rose steadily and took the form of a phoenix the higher it went. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Vigo turned to face her. "Offering a tribute for the fallen Stonekeepers," he answered.

"May I join you?"

"Of course."

Emily stepped up and stood next to him. "Are we the last ones?"

"Stonekeepers, you mean?" Vigo sounded sad. "There are very few of us left, to be sure."

"If Max is working with the Elf King," Emily said, "he can grant the elves access to the Motherstone. They'll be able to create a new Council under their control. But we're the last ones on our side." When she didn't get an immediate answer to her comment, she turned to look at Vigo and continued, "We are the last Guardian Council. Aren't we?"

Vigo sighed heavily. "Back at the academy, you encountered the likenesses of several young Stonekeepers. Among them were students of mine, from many years. Ronin was my best student, and the youngest Stonekeeper ever to be offered a place on the Council. But she chose not to join the Council, claiming that the responsibility was too great for someone her age. Ronin would have joined a Council with several other powerful Stonekeepers, but you'll be joined by an old man far past his prime and we'll be up against a very powerful enemy. Are you sure you're ready for this kind of responsibility?"

"The difference between her and me is that she had a choice," Emily said. "I may not be as clever as Max, or as skilled as Ronin, but don't ask me if I'm ready. Because no matter how I feel about it, I'll have to be."

Vigo looked at her with respect for her willingness to accept what had been thrust upon her. To prove her ability, she released a part of her stone's magic equal in size and from to his.

Their tributes rose into the night, twin phoenixes of red and blue twisting around each other.

* * *

Continued in Book 5: Prince of the Elves


End file.
